Question: The manager at Vanessa's Furniture Store is trying to figure out how much to charge for a couch that just arrived. If the couch was bought at a wholesale price of $86.00 and Vanessa's Furniture Store marks up all furniture by 40%, at what price should the manager sell the couch?
Solution: In order to find the retail price, we must first find the amount of markup. Remember that a markup rate is a percentage of the wholesale price that a store adds to get a selling or retail price. With this knowledge, we can figure out the following equation: markup rate $\times$ wholesale price $=$ amount of markup Since the markup rate is a percentage, we have to convert it into a decimal first. Percent means "out of one hundred," so $40\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{40}{100}$ which is also equal to $40 \div 100$ $40 \div 100 = 0.40$ Now you have all the information you need to find the amount of markup! $0.40$ $\times$ $$86.00$ $=$ $$34.40$ Since the markup rate is a percentage of the wholesale price that is added to get the retail price, we can find the retail price with the following equation: amount of markup $+$ wholesale price $=$ retail price $$34.40$ $+$ $$86.00$ $=$ $$120.40$ The retail price of the couch should be $$120.40$.